


Something About You

by Sulana



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Awkward Nino, exploration of feelings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-27
Updated: 2016-01-27
Packaged: 2018-05-16 17:02:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,291
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5833507
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sulana/pseuds/Sulana
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Nino really wants to say something to Marinette, but it isn't easy when seeing her turns his brain into mush. Thankfully he has a good friend like Adrien to help him out.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Something About You

**Author's Note:**

> Set before French episode #16, "Animan." Also my first Miraculous Ladybug fic. Enjoy!

_There are no other girls quite like Marinette._

He can't remember for the life of him when he found himself so drawn to Marinette.

_She's quiet,_ he remembered noting after the first day. She sat in the row behind him with another girl, who she seems to already have an established friendship with. The other girl-Alya, he's learned-is rather outspoken and boisterous in comparison to Marinette upon first glance. Both girls came in together, chatting to one another before class began and softly giggling every so often behind them while their teacher lectured. They were both pretty cute along with some of the other girls in the room, so Nino knew this was going to be a good year.

As time went on, he noticed that Marinette was anything but quiet; maybe a bit reserved if you don't know her very well, but she had the most expression Nino has seen in a girl in quite a while, and he'd be lying if he said he wasn't growing interested. In class discussions, if she takes the lead on a topic she's passionate about, Nino could see the fire in her eyes whenever he would turn around to watch her. Marinette's entire personality would ignite and come to life as she spoke, animated and lively. It made Nino feel like something inside _himself_ caught fire and he was captivated.

Not to mention, Marinette was one of few people to openly begin standing up to Chloe on such a regular basis. When the mayor's daughter decided to throw a temper tantrum or take out her frustrations on classmates, it was the raven-haired girl who did her best to protect the blonde's latest victim and make sure they were comforted afterward. Lord knew that girl desperately needed a reality check and who better to deliver than the sweet, down-to-earth Marinette? To say it was impressive would be an understatement, because _no one_ liked to step in Chloe's way unless they wanted to face her wrath.

He needed to get to know her better.

A task that was easier said than done.

xx

During the students' break for lunch, Nino was rather unfocused on listening to his best friend talking across from him, seeming even less interested in the food in front of him. All Adrien could do was roll his eyes, having a feeling he knew the reason for Nino's lack of attention.

Sure enough, Adrien's suspicions were correct. The blond had no need to turn around in order to see that behind him, across the courtyard, was a certain pair of girls sitting on a bench with bubbling laughter that filled the air like a song. One of those laughs, to Nino, was more like a symphony to his ears; one he couldn't get enough of hearing.

Adrien shook his head, grinning. "You should just go over there and say hi to Marinette," he suggested.

"No way, man!" Nino's cry came out louder than he anticipated and he winced, shooting a glance over Adrien's shoulder to look at the girls- it appeared like Marinette didn't notice, still in conversation with Alya. Would she have known this was about her had she heard? "She's, like, way out of my league. Do you see her over there?" Nino rested his elbows on the table and cupped his face in his hands, sighing. _She's stunning,_ is what he wanted to add, but he decided against it. He felt like he was already making enough of a fool out of himself as it was.

By some miracle, Nino found that Alya tried to push herself and Marinette into conversations with him and Adrien often. He was silently grateful to her for doing so, regardless of her motives (did she even _have_ motives? perhaps this was just Alya's personality) because every time he looked at Marinette, any time he got close, he felt heat rush to his face and anything coherent he might have wanted to say managed to vanish in an instant. He easily got lost in the sea that were her eyes and the warm aroma of sugar that always seemed to come off her. Adrien did his best to help when he noticed his friend slipping, placing a hand on Nino's shoulder and doing most of the talking for him, leaving Nino to nod quickly with a nervous laugh.

Marinette usually displayed a rather reluctant, almost distant look herself whenever they were all together talking and hanging out, looking anywhere but at the two boys- but what for?

"You know, maybe she's into you, too," Adrien mused. The thought made Nino's eyes light up and his heart sky-rocket out of his chest.

"You really think Marinette's got a crush on me?" Nino asked, hopeful.

It made the most sense, Adrien deduced. Marinette seemed to be fine by herself or when she was with Alya, but when she came around the two boys, she would fumble all over her words and always looked like she wanted to run away. So surely she was smitten, too. Right?

Adrien smiled at his best friend, offering an assuring nod. "You'll never know until you go for it, will you?"

Boy, did Nino _want_ to go for it. How could he manage to get close to her and ask her out if he could barely string together a simple sentence in front of her? Especially if she's more than likely going to react in a similar fashion when he confronts her? The last thing Nino wants to do is scare the poor girl away.

"I dunno, dude," Nino sighed, burying his face into his hands. "Girls are mega tricky... What would I even say to her?"

The bell signifying that their lunch break was ending and classes were to resume shortly sounded, which many of the students chose to ignore. Alya and Marinette didn't, however; the pair of best friends made their way towards Nino and Adrien.

"You could try, 'sup,' maybe?" Adrien nudged Nino, who glanced up just in time to see the girls passing by. He choked back a surprise yelp and Adrien couldn't help but laugh.

"What's so funny over here?" Alya asked as she strolled to a pause, quirking a brow. Marinette stood behind her, eyes shooting between Nino and Adrien. Nino could almost feel his heart stop when their gazes connected momentarily, although nerves got the best of him and he broke it immediately to look down at his unfinished meal. There was silence, and Adrien knew Nino wasn't going to speak up so he merely shrugged. "Right," Alya continued. "You guys coming to class with us then? We don't expect you two to lounge here all day long! Right, Marinette?"

Marinette's eyes blew wide before nodding, face turning completely away as her cheeks turned a faint pink. "Mhmm. Right," she agreed, voice soft.

She is so, so cute, Nino thought, a silly grin spreading wide across his face.

"Then what are you waiting for?" Alya grabbed both boys by their arms and pulled them to their feet. "Stop being lazy and let's go before we're tardy! Come on!"

They allowed themselves to be pulled from the table with a laugh. Alya began marching ahead of them with Marinette following behind, leaving Nino and Adrien to catch up.

"We shouldn't keep the ladies waiting," Adrien said, placing a hand on Nino's back to get him moving. Nino nodded, eyes fixated on Marinette momentarily. Her pigtails bobbed about as she walked with Alya, and Nino couldn't help but sigh while he admired her. It was always nice to be the one behind her since he never had much of an opportunity to turn around and look at her during class.

"Yeah," he smiled. "Let's go, dude."

**Author's Note:**

> hello! after seeing the episode Animan, i thought the idea of Nino having feelings for Marinette was too cute to pass up so i had to begin writing it. it's pretty short and sweet, just to get a glimpse into Nino's mind a bit and see what he's thinking. let me know what you thought about it and thank you for reading my first ladybug fic!! xoxo


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